Energy Minister Jebran Bassil reiterated a proposal to adopt alternative options concerning the lingering world oil prices, which are becoming a daily burden on citizens, An Nahar newspaper reported on Friday.

“These alternative solutions help citizens save around LL15,000 in gas prices, LL7,000 in gasoline prices, and would cost the treasury less,” he told the daily.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has slammed what he called the alleged “myth” that Syrian President Bashar Assad is a reformist, urging the Lebanese authorities not to hand over Syrian activists to the regime of the neighboring country.

Jumblat told An Nahar daily following talks with French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe in Paris on Thursday, that the minister is among the rare “westerners who didn’t believe the myth that Bashar Assad is a reformist.”

Pro-Syrian Lebanese parties and Palestinian factions are organizing a rally in areas bordering Israel on Earth Day in Lebanon on March 30, al-Liwaa daily reported Friday.

The newspaper said the Baath party and the Syrian Social National Party, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command, Fatah al-Intifada and other factions are coordinating to mark Earth Day.

Syrian authorities demanded Lebanon officially on Friday to hand over the armed Syrian nationals that sought refuge in the eastern Bekaa area over the weekend, As Safir newspaper reported.

The Syrian Justice Ministry sent an official request to the Lebanese authorities demanding them to “hand over the armed groups that were detained in Lebanon,” informed sources told the daily.

The cabinet tasked Premier Najib Miqati on Friday with preparing a draft-law on the details of the extra-budgetary spending made by previous governments between 2006 and 2010.

Information Minister Walid al-Daouq said following the cabinet session held at Baabda palace that Miqati will refer the draft-law to the government during its next session on Wednesday.

Those who are demanding a facilitation of the crossing of gunmen from and into Syria have “made the wrong request and knocked on the wrong door,” Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji has said.

In an interview with Al-Afkar magazine to be published Friday, Qahwaji stressed that the army had boosted its deployment in the northern area of Wadi Khaled, which borders Syria, noting that “the military forces are exerting utmost efforts to control the border, prevent smuggling in both directions, and thwart any infiltration attempt.”

The Higher Defense Council on Thursday expressed “relief” over the security situation in the country and decided to keep its resolutions confidential, following an emergency meeting at the Baabda Palace that tackled the issue of the Lebanese-Syrian border and the influx of refugees and gunmen from Syria.

The council “was briefed by the heads of the security agencies about the results of the security missions performed in several Lebanese regions and the border areas, expressing relief over the general security situation,” council spokesman Maj. Gen. Adnan Merheb announced after the meeting.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi stated on Thursday that Lebanon “knows how to assume its responsibilities.”

He said ahead of his official visit to Jordan: “The Lebanese state does not need to take orders from others on how to run its affairs.”

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecution and Defense counsel have been asked to file written submissions to the Appeals Chamber on the crime of "criminal association" (under Article 335 of the Lebanese Criminal Code), announced the STL in a statement on Thursday.

The parties have until March 15 to submit their arguments to the Appeals Chamber along with arguments on whether an oral hearing should take place, it explained.

United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly lamented on Thursday the poor number of women in official state positions in Lebanon.

He said after holding talks with Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour: “Let us hope that the 2013 parliamentary elections will result in a stronger participation and bigger representation of women in the political field here in the future.”